


Masquerade

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Broken Engagement, Costume Parties & Masquerades, F/M, Getting Back Together, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24065071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Back in the day, Tony and Giuletta were engaged. It’s rather fitting that the next time they see each other after she runs off, is at an old style masquerade gala.
Relationships: Giuletta Nefaria/Tony Stark
Kudos: 8
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	Masquerade

**Author's Note:**

> For Tony Stark Bingo: T3-Giuletta Nefaria
> 
> Fair warning... the ending is a wee bit rushed

"This is a horrible idea," Tony said, only to be ignored. It's what he'd expected, but still, talk about hurtful. "This is the absolute worst idea any of you have ever had." 

"This isn't worse than whatever Clint did to the kitchen last week," Bruce said, "but it's pretty bad." Easy for Bruce to say, he wasn't allowed to go on account of the Hulk. 

The MET gala had invited all of the Avengers to come except for Bruce-- this year's theme was Masquerade, so Tony had argued that they could still sneak him in-- because of the number of irreplaceable works of art they were going to have on display. Tony had let Pepper go to all past MET galas on his behalf, and tried-- fruitlessly-- to get her to go instead of him again this year. Also because she had to approve every charitable donation he made since the heavy metal poisoning incident with the arc reactor. But she kept refusing, and Steve was now insisting that if he had to go, everyone (but Bruce) had to go too. Tony was pretty sure this was only payback for guilting him into going in the first place, which made it so much worse that he was being forced to go. Steve liked to make everyone suffer as much as he was. 

Tony knew the chances of him getting out of it were extremely slim, but there _was_ a chance, so he wasn't going to shut up until he was on the red carpet. 

...Nobody ever listened to him. So here he was. Reluctant but gorgeous, posing for the cameras as he walked up the steps. Anonymity wasn't the point of this, so he'd gone with an Iron Man mask. Obviously it wasn't to scale, and it was a different sort of shape to fit better against his face, but it was still clear who he was. 

He got in the doors and headed straight for the bar. He wasn't matching shots with the entire world anymore, but a glass of scotch wouldn't be unwelcome right now. Tony sipped at his drink as he scanned the room. There were a lot of ballroom dresses with hoop skirts, and some men had the good taste to go classic white tie even if they went straight black and white like they had no imagination. Seriously, would a little color kill these people? His eyes shuddered to a halt when he came across one very familiar mask. Giuletta had insisted that she needed one after the accident, only taking it off when they were in bed and all lights were fully off. She liked her signature golden mask, and her dress was her usual gold and green, covering her from neck to wrist to ankle. 

She'd steered clear of him after running off to be her father's daughter, so he hadn't seen her in years. He downed the rest of his drink and set the empty glass on the bar before making his way over. A little chatting about where she'd been, and he'd ask if she ever planned on giving back the engagement ring. Simple and not at all heartbreaking. 

"Pardon the interruption," Tony said, cutting off her conversation with a man with a cat-like mask. He held one hand out to her, unsurprised that she was wearing gloves as well. "Might I have this dance?" 

There was a brief pause as she thought it over. Would Tony cause a scene if she said no? Would he say that he could wait until she was free? "Of course. We can finish this discussion later tonight," she said in an overly sweet voice. She took Tony's hand, and they walked onto the dance floor together. "It's been a while," she said, her voice back to normal as they got into position. 

"I see you've been busy." 

"Business is business." 

"And you're taking over your father's business?" 

"Is this a dance with an ex-girlfriend or an interrogation, Tony?" 

"Ex-fiancee," Tony corrected. He knew her well enough that he could interpret her silence as guilty. 

Unfortunately, she knew him pretty well too, so she knew that he was hurt by her departure. "I left you a note." 

"A conversation wouldn't have been that hard for you." 

"You've moved on," she said, tone firm. "Although I have to say, flying a nuke into a portal to outer space? Really?" 

"I would love to know how me trying save millions of lives translates into me being over you." 

"If you cared, you would've stayed alive." 

"That must be a nice world you're living in, where the only factors are you, me and what we want." 

"Don't be a jackass, you know what I meant." 

"As you're the one who left me, I think I'm allowed to be rude." 

Giuletta didn't like admitting to anything when she was wrong, so she hummed instead of replying. "Did you actually need something Tony? Or are we rehashing our relationship for the fun of it? Because if it's the latter, I would prefer not to. I do have business to attend to, in case you've forgotten." 

Tony was about to tell her that if she wanted to pretend she had never cared for him, all he needed was the ring back and then he would leave her alone as much as she wanted. He didn't get the chance because suddenly Giuletta was pushing him behind her and bringing up a gun. A quick glance told him that she wasn't the first one to pull out a piece, and with barely a thought, he was raising an arm, a repulsor folding over his fingers and glowing to life. 

"We're not here for Iron Man," one of them said, voice rough to try and hide the slight tremble there. Frankly, with this little space between them, Tony would be more worried about Giuletta, but that's just him. He never did credit villains with an overabundance of intelligence, though. "Miss Nefaria, your father was most unhappy with your decision to leave." 

"Is this him asking for me to come back?" she asked doubtfully. 

"You could've chosen a better event to do this at," Tony said. "Like, say, when all the Avengers weren't here." 

...Needless to say, there wasn't much of a fight at all. 

"I could've handled that myself," Giuletta said afterwards. 

"You're welcome," Tony said drily. "Nice to see that you missed me too." He could've added something more about how he'd missed her every single day since she'd left, but what would be the point? She'd chosen to leave, she'd chosen to keep away, and it was only by coincidence that they'd talked tonight. 

"Don't use that tone, you know that I missed you." 

"Did I? This is the first I've heard of it." 

Giuletta raised a hand, stroking her gloved thumb over the mouth of his mask. "I could never understand why you were insecure." 

"Not making me feel better about this," he muttered, but he stepped closer. 

Her hand curved over the cheek, then around to his neck. "What I mean is that you're amazing. You're gorgeous, kind…” 

"I don't think 'kind' is in the top ten words people use to describe me." 

"They're idiots," she whispered. 

Tony reached up and took his mask. He probably looked silly with so much paint on his face but no mask to match, but Giuletta had seen him looking far worse. "That almost sounds like a return to our engagement." 

"I wouldn't go that far," she said, but then she yanked her own mask off and kissed him hard. The scars across her mouth felt the same way they always had, and when she pulled off her gloves to get her hands on his skin, they felt the same too. 


End file.
